I love audio books and listen to them regularly when doing mindless work tasks or on walks.

Due to inflation and the drastic increases in material, labor, and supplies, that's naturally caused carriers to rethink limits/values on file. 

On paper the cheap houses look great, but the reality is they are harder to manage, have higher turn over and cost a lot more time and money.Buying before you retire is a good idea because once you retire, your ability to borrow money is going to decrease as you don't have a regular income from a job.As you want to fix houses up, why not buy a house that needs a bit of work, live in it while doing the renos and then move when you sell it. 

.- The 203(k) will allow you to bid on properties that need repairs that won't qualify for a traditional mortgage => less competition => better purchase price.You will need to find a great local contractor you can trust to supply the required bids to qualify for the 203(k).- After closing, you can do some of the work yourself to save money, but the program doesn't allow you to pay yourself.You will want to buy a Class B property, maybe Class C+, in an area that seems to be improving.

Quote from @Richa Wardhan: Regular lender financing, we have paid off 70% of our mortgage on the primary residence so we were loaned money without any issue. 

Just remember that $70 is the gross number they charge , they have to buy supplies , insurance , tools , vehicle , gas , workmans comp etc . 

Dont go to the regular retail realtor who only deals with FHA or conventional mortgages like 80%+ of the people.

I'm not saying you'll be working a lot all the time, but you'll regularly have late-night questions from people checking in, for example.

Old investors like me only invest in the subscription for pro; we don't buy courses or books (actually, I own probably 20 of their books) regularly.

I also advise participating in regular meetings with them.